Slack-adjuster for clothes-lines.



T. T. DUNN.

SLACK ADJUSTER FOR CLOTHES LINES. APPLICATION FILED luLYal. 19x5.

1 9 169 626, Patented Jan. 25, 1916.

WITNESSES INVENTOR N.-7/L(/MM TT Dunn A7TOR/VEYS THE coLuMmA PLANOGRAPH (30., WASHINGTON, D. C.

oriirbn,

Specification o Letters Patent.

SLACKADJUS'LER roR CLOTHES-LINES.

Patented Jan. 25, 19116,

' Application filed July 31, 1915. Serial No. 42,960.

To all whom it may concern:

Be'it known that I, THOMAS T. DUNN, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of \Vallingford, in the county of New Haven and State of Connecticut, have invented a new and Improved Slack- Adjuster for Clothes-Lines, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

This invention relates to clothes line fasteners and has particular-reference to means for taking up the slack or adjusting the tautness of a clothes-line or other analogous device.

Among the objects of the invention is to provide a pulley of peculiar construction journaled in a U-shaped frame of novel form adapted particularly for cooperation with said pulley, one end of the frame being adapted to be secured to a building or other fixed object or to one end of a looped line, while the loose end of the line is adapted to pass partly around the pulley and then be extended. laterally for cooperation with the frame.

Another object of the invention is to provide an adjuster for clothes lines which is adapted to snub and hold the loose end of the line without requiring a knot to be made therein or necessitating the loss of time in securing it.

lVith the foregoing and other objects in view, the invention consists in the arrangement and combination of parts hereinafter described and claimed, and while the invention is not restricted to the exact details of constructions disclosed herein, still for the purpose of illustrating a practical embodiment thereof reference is had to the accompanying drawings, in which like reference characters designate the same parts in the several views, and in which Figure 1 is a side elevation of the device shown in connection with an endless line; Fig. 2 is a plan view of the same; Fig. 3 is a diagram indicating the complete line and supporting means; and Fig. 4 is a diagram indicating a single line having one end secured at a remote point and the adjusting pulley secured to a fixed object.

Referring now more particularly to the drawings, 10 indicates a pulley comprising a hub 11 and parallel side flanges 12. Each of the flanges is provided with radial notches 12', and the inner or bottom end of each notch is elongated circumferentially of the pulley as indicated at 12". The width of each notch circumferentially of the pulley is sufficient to admit the cord or line 12 therethrough and the notch extensions 12 are likewise of a size suflicient to form seats for the line.

The pulley is journaled on a pivot pin or bolt 14 between the parallel legs of the substantially U-shaped frame or bracket 15 to the head 16 of which is connected a shackle 17 having an eye 17 through which the opposite end of the line may be passed and knotted or by means of which the frame may be secured directly upon a building or other fixed point by means of a hook 18 indicated in Fig. 4. The frame is provided between the ends of the legs and the head 16 with rounded seats 15 designed to cooperate with the notch extensions 12 to snub or grip the free end of the line.

The operation of the device may be briefly set forth as follows: With the shackled end of the frame held as above described, either by means of the opposite end of the line or by a hook, the free end of the line 13 will be passed over or around the pulley and between the pulley hub and the head 16 of the frame. A draft upon the free end of the line around the pulley will serve to set up the required amount of tension upon the line, and then the free end of the line is deflected laterally and extended into one of the notches 12 and seated in the notch extension remote from the frame. Upon releasing the hold upon the free end of the line, the tension already set up will turn the pulley in a reverse direction, bringing that portion of the line extending beyond the pulley flange into the seat 15 of the frame, as shown in Fig. 1. This action of the line upon the pulley tending to turn the same is entirely automatic, causing the free end of the line to be gripped in or against the seat 15*. The pulley might be provided with only one notched fiange 12, but for greatest convenience it has two notched flanges codperating closely to the parallel legs of the frame, both of which are provided with seats 15 both above and below the plane of the shackle 17.

WVhen the endless line 13 is used, it is operated over direction pulleys 19 supported upon a building 20 or a distant pole 21 in the usual manner. When, however, a single line 13 is used, one end is secured to a dis.- tant point, and the other or free end of the line 13 cooperates over the pulley 10 and throughthe frame already explained,

While the frame issecured to the hook 18 adjacent the Window'of'the building or any other suitable fixed point. a I claim:

1. lnratdevice of thecharacter set ,forth, the'combination of a pulley having a hub' and a flange at the end ofthehub, said" flange having a radial notch terminating in" a circumferential extension adjacent the hub, a frame-ofsubstantially U-shape 'em-' bracing the ends ofthe pulley, means pivoting the pulley in the frame, and a line act- Copies of thisrpa'tent may be obtained for in g parallel side legs each having an edge seat, means to support the closed end of the frame, a pulley journaled in the frame betyveenv the legs, said pulley having end flanges cooperating closely with the inner surfaces of the legs and each flange being provided with radial notches terminating in circumferential extensions registering with said seats, and a line acting over the pulley and through the frame, the free end of the line being passed laterally from the pulley through one of said notches and adapted to seat automatically'against the adjacent seat of the frame, substantially as set forth.

THOMAS TREGONING DUNN.

Witnesses CLIFTON WV. ALLEN, A. S. MARTIN.

five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of latents, Washington, D. 0. 

